I wanted to have my kids watch a movie to add to all we are learning about WWII. Any recommendations? I know of Schindlers List...but sadly I haven't seen it myself. I am not sure if it would be ok to watch with a 10 year old. Another one that came to mind was U-571 which I watch when it first came out. It's been a long time!

So....if any of you have a movie to refer- new or old ...I would sure appreciate it!

4. The Sound of Music, kind of vague about the war but it's there. Other movies touch on the war very briefly as well, such as Narnia, Railway Children, etc.

5. Monuments Men, which my grandson enjoyed at a younger age but it is a focus on the artwork loss rather than the human cost

6. For parents only due to extreme violence, we recently rented Hacksaw Ridge from Redbox and, although too violent for me, it was an amazing story of a man's love for God within wartime horrors. Kind of like Sergeant York for WWI.

I saw Monuments Men...thanks for the reminder...that was a good one! Selfishly, thanks for the info on Hacksaw Ridge. I want to see that one and wasn't sure about it. I think I will watch it (not as a family movie night ) and just be prepared for the violence...maybe with my 13 yr old son.

It's funny you recommended the Sound of Music and Chronicles. We referenced them several times in our discussions of WWII as we are huge fans of those movies. Another one that my kids thought of was Peter Pan Returns. Sweet cartoon and story with WWII as the backdrop.

Sadly, I never thought about renting The Hiding Place...I never knew they made it into a movie!

Any straight historical/educational documentaries that you've watched? I have been looking on the History Channel but nothing is on right now.

klewfor3 wrote:Any straight historical/educational documentaries that you've watched? I have been looking on the History Channel but nothing is on right now.

1. Well, PBS has thorough war documentaries. For instance, Ken Burns is pretty reliable ("The War"), as is The American Experience (e.g. my husband and I watched the War Letters/Legacy Project series, some of which relates to WWII). I can't really say whether kids will enjoy any of these. BBC has similarly thorough documentaries. It's hard to be concise when WWII was so long and so big.

2. If your family likes longer, history-based shows, I'll add that my husband also enjoyed historical authors David McCullough and Stephen Ambrose, so we watched movies based on their books (Truman, Band of Brothers, etc.).

3. I got permission to share some of the recommendations for this time period in the MFW high school manual. Here are some of those that you might look into, according to your family's interests

a. Mrs. Miniver
b. Since You Went Away, including Shirley Temple at age 16
c. Several older, famous movies, many of which I originally included in my first list but took them out. On the one hand they would likely not be as graphic as today's movies, but on the other hand I wasn't sure kids would enjoy black & white war films LOL But a recommendation from Marie Hazell is always good: Tora! Tora! Tora! (Pearl Harbor), The Longest Day (D-Day), The Great Escape (POW escape attempt), Sink the Bismarck, and The Best Years of Our Lives (soldiers returning home).